Post and Beam Home Builder

Post and Beam Timber Building

With traditional Timber Frame construction, the joining of intersecting wood members is accomplished with wood pegs (also called trunnels, tree-nails, or dowels). With 'Post and Beam' construction, the joinery of the wood members is accomplished using exposed metal plates, bolts, pins, and tension-tie rods. Sometimes traditional timber framing still needs to borrow upon the "modern" strength of steel, to accomplish the structural feats and enhanced durability designed and desired. In most cases, however, this steel can be hidden inside of the joinery - often undetectable from outward appearance.

When genuine Post and Beam construction is desired, the results can be impressive. The metal connections are often powder-coated or painted black or bronze, or brushed steel. The look produced by Post and Beam construction is somewhat 'mechanical' or 'industrial', and pairs well with 'worked' masonry such as square-cut stone or brick.

Post and Beam construction usually features wood members that are square-cut, which matches well with the industrial aesthetic this style evokes. However, it is also applied to logs-in-the-round as well, presenting round posts, round plates, round rafters and truss webbing connected with steel plates and bolts, all to suggest a more rugged design choice.

Timber Ridge Craftsmen, Inc. 540-797-3059

One of Virginia's finest home builders, located at Smith Mountain Lake. We are in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside of Roanoke and Lynchburg.